(Before) Church in Milan, Italy by Daniel Enchev Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
“La Porta ( The Door) by Jillyann Sanchez-Herman 2022
Religion is very important part of my life as I grew up Catholic so when I came across this image I knew I found the one I wanted to use. The first photo taken by Daniel of a church in Milan, Italy was beautiful as you can tell them marble finishings and the gorgeous larger than life wooden doorway. So I decided to focus on the wooden doorway I wanted to show the cravings of what appears to be biblical scenes. This door that was simply made of wood but intricate in design. The black and white photo seems crisps and full of life as the people each in their own world doing mundane things like reading a map or just walking. One day I do hope to go back to Italy when we don’t have to worry about being infect with Covid and perhaps I can take my family to this church and tell them about the time I used this image for an assignment in class.
Hello Jillyann!
The picture you chose for this week is lovely. I was also raised Catholic so I understand the importance of focusing on a door with biblical imagery. The black and white imagery absolutely gives a beautiful contrast to the scene and allows the viewer to grasp the everyday life. It reminds me of that movie, “Life is Beautiful” (which is an amazing but also heartbreaking film)!
However, I feel that the newer image does not convey the importance of the door or how large it really is in comparison to the people on the street. Instead of cropping it vertically and trying to fit the door into the 3 rules frame, maybe pull it horizontally and crop out more of the people. As it is now, the story the second image tells me is about the young woman in the very front with her beautiful luggage. She looks so excited and I want to know more about her!
What’s working:
I love this photo to bits. I also love the the derivative you made too. It remind me of mine own time Italy (I lived outside Venice when I was kid) and exploring the very ornate architecture. There’s soooo much going on this photo and I think you chose a good photo to crop. You manage to crop on a wonderful part of the photo which is the door and it’s peripehry. Overall I think you brought greater focus to the door.
What could be improved: While you certainly brought greater focus to the door, what my eyes is mostly drawn to the woman on the steps. I fear more focus was inadvertently put on a particular crowd outside the church doing mundane things (as you noted) than the door. While I think this gives the door and church more personality, it does in fact distract from the door. I think you could’ve cut the bottom 1/6 of the image and made your point clearer. Even so, this is wonderful photo and crop!